Thread: FAIR December 19, 2005 Legislative Update

December 19, 2005
In this update:

House Approves Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act
Immigration Increase Dropped from Budget Reconciliation Bill
Happy Holidays from FAIR
House Approves Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act

Many thanks for all of your hard work last week! Thanks to your relentless phone calls, several very important strengthening amendments were added to Judiciary Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner's (R-WI) border security bill! (See below for a list of these amendments)

The House passed H.R. 4437, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act, last Friday by a 239-182 vote (Roll no. 661). The following strengthening amendments were adopted:

H.AMDT.648 by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) was agreed to by a 260-159 vote (Roll no. 640). This amendment mandates the construction of specific security fencing, including lights and cameras, along the Southwest border for the purposes of gaining operational control of the border. Fencing has been designated in sectors that have the highest number of immigrant deaths, instances of drug smuggling and illegal border crossings. It also includes a requirement for the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct a study on the use of physical barriers along the Northern border.
H.AMDT.650 by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) was agreed to by a 273-148 vote (Roll no. 653). This amendment eliminates the visa lottery program.
H.AMDT.658 by Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-GA) was approved by a 237-180 vote (Roll no. 656). Norwood's amendment reaffirms state and local law enforcement's existing inherent authority to assist in the enforcement of immigration law, provides training on this issue at no cost to the local agency, and provides increases and additional resources to help assist in the enforcement of immigration laws.
H.AMDT.654 by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) was agreed to by voice vote. This amendment seeks to establish a hard deadline to achieve operational control over the entire international land and maritime borders of the United States. Operational control entails the prevention of all unlawful entries into the United States.
H.AMDT.661 by Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC) passed by voice vote. This amendment requires the removal of an illegal alien on the first conviction of drunk driving.
H.AMDT.662 and H.AMDT.663 by Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) passed by voice vote. H.AMDT.662 increases penalties for document fraud and for crimes of violence and drug trafficking offenses committed by illegal aliens. H.AMDT.663 Adds human trafficking and human smuggling to the list of predicate acts under the federal money laundering statute.
H.AMDT.668 by Rep. Jim Ryun (R-KS) passed by voice vote. This amendment establishes the Oath of Renunciation and Allegiance as federal law so that it cannot be changed without an act of Congress. It also requires the Secretary of Homeland Security, in cooperation with the Secretary of State, to notify a foreign embassy of which a new citizen was a citizen or subject that the citizen has renounced allegiance to that foreign country and sworn allegiance to the United States.
H.AMDT.669 by Rep. Edward Royce (R-CA) passed by voice vote. This amendment requires no immigration benefit be granted until an FBI fingerprint check has been submitted and the results show that the alien does not have a criminal or immigration history that would render him or her ineligible for the benefit.
Unfortunately, H.AMDT.667 by Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK) failed by a 163-251 vote (Roll no. 659) and Rep. Tom Tancredo's (R-CO) amendment to prohibit sanctuary policies that protect illegal aliens was withdrawn. Sullivan's H.AMDT.667 sought to require all non-citizens who enter or exit the country to be processed through the automated entry-exit control system Congress mandated in 1996. Tancredo's amendment would have prohibited the Attorney General from allocating funds under the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program to any state or local government which maintains a sanctuary policy that protects and hides illegal aliens from detection, in violation of federal law (8USC 1373). It also would have required the Attorney General to report annually to Congress on which state and local governments maintain sanctuary policies.

Another major disappointment was that two very important amendments were not made in order for consideration. These include an amendment by Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA) that would have ended the anchor baby loophole that grants birthright citizenship to children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens, and an amendment by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) to plug loopholes in the worksite verification system included in the underlying bill.

The Road Ahead

Taking a longer view of this legislation and its prospects for the future, it remains to be seen whether Congress will meet widespread public expectations that immigration law enforcement will finally be addressed seriously.

The bill passed by the House on Friday takes some steps towards addressing the key issue of immigration law enforcement. However, what marks this bill's significance is more to be found in what it did not include than what it did. Perhaps more importantly, such serious and thoughtful legislators as Reps. Charlie Norwood (R-GA) and J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) have cautioned that this bill is a "Trojan horse" that will ultimately carry the amnesty-guestworker program that is widely expected to pass the Senate early next year. We will keep you posted on developments, but it is well to be prepared for a battle royal next year.

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Immigration Increase Dropped from Budget Reconciliation Bill

In other legislative news, we are pleased to report that the final budget reconciliation package, approved last night by the House, did not include immigration provisions that would have increased legal immigration by as much as 350,000 a year. Those provisions were dropped from the legislation before final passage. This is a great victory for everyone who took action to kill the Specter plan which sought to balance the budget by selling American jobs to foreign workers and increasing immigration in exchange for revenue raised by immigration-related fees.

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Happy Holidays from FAIR

All of us here at FAIR very much appreciate your dedication and support! We expect to have a very busy year ahead and rely on your continued efforts in the forthcoming guestworker/amnesty battle. In the meantime, we wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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